It was close, but he lost by one vote to Judson “Fabio” Birza. Aspiring country singer Chase Rice finished in second place on Survivor: Nicaragua after a bitter jury bit down hard on his strategy in the game. On the red carpet immediately after the live Survivor reunion show, I had the opportunity to talk with Chase about his wishy-washy decisions, his reaction to the nasty jury and why he thinks Marty is dumb.

Read on to watch video of the interview from the red carpet in Hollywood.

Check out Ryan Haidet’s red carpet interview with Chase Rice:

RealityTVMagazine: At the final Tribal Council were you expecting that much animosity in your direction, as well as Sash? Were you surprised by that?

Chase Rice: No I wasn’t surprised. Those guys were pretty furious and mad, but I didn’t care. I knew the votes I had a chance of getting, and I wasn’t trying to get Marty. I wasn’t even gonna try. So I told him when he asked me who is dumb, “Well I think you are.” I think it’s kind of funny that he thinks I’m so dumb, but he was voted out seven or eight people before me so that makes him really dumb, I guess.

RTVMag: Do you think he was trying to get you to say you were dumb yourself because the way I took it was he was trying to get you to label Fabio in that way.

Chase Rice: He was probably trying to get me to say I was a little dumb. That’s a stupid move for me to do — to name anyone but him. Because I probably still don’t get his vote and then I make someone else mad. So whatever he was trying to do with that question I gave right back to him.

RTVMag: Let’s go back to the beginning of the game. It was a battle of young versus old, and three young guys came to the top. Did that really play a factor in the entire season like it seemed like it was going to at the beginning?

Chase Rice: We talked about it in the beginning. We wanted a young person to win. In the end that was probably Fabio’s thought process — let’s get three young guys to the end. I think he was pretty sure he was gonna win anyway. I’m just glad he took me. He didn’t have to take me. $100,000 I’ll take it.

RTVMag: Were you surprised the vote fell that way when Holly was eliminated or did you guys know Holly was going home?

Chase Rice: We talked about it, and we all said let’s vote for Holly. But you never know, something could change. But yeah, when that happened I wasn’t surprised.

RTVMag: Let’s talk about the character you were portrayed as. They had you as a wishy-washy player a little bit, and you were making decisions backstabbing. Was that an accurate portrayal? It seemed like you were playing with your heart a lot.

Chase Rice: I was playing with my heart, I was just going with what I thought was best. I made a lot of moves that were absolutely crazy, but I made it to the end. So I don’t care. Call it crazy, I made it to the end. Yeah I was playing with my heart, which may not be the best thing for Survivor. But I’ll be the first to tell you I’m not good at the game of Survivor. It’s a game where you cheat, lie and steal to get to the end and win. If I’m bad at that, I’m fine with that.

RTVMag: You had a really tight bond with Jane, and then when you hear her say something like, “He better not show his face in North Carolina again,” how do you react because you guys seem cool?

Chase Rice: Yeah, we’re cool now. She was probably pretty bitter when she said that. If she still thinks that then I’ll still come back to North Carolina and they’ll greet me with open arms. I still love everyone there, and they still love me. I don’t know who you are to think that you can tell me I can’t come back to where I’m from, but I’ll be there and I love Carolina.

RTVMag: Outside of Survivor, we got to see you play a little bit of music at the live finale, so what is next for you?

Chase Rice: That’s what I do. I write songs, and I love singing and performing. That’s what we’re doing right now. We did an EP, recorded last Thursday in the studio in Nashville. We recorded five songs, we’re gonna push “Buzzback” as the first single. That will be out next week. The rest of the EP will come out on iTunes in probably a month. …

RTVMag: How did you get cast on the show?

Chase Rice: I had someone contact me and said they thought I’d be good for it. I went and did all the application stuff, and they liked me and put me on there. It was pretty easy.

RTVMag: What advice would you offer to a future player of this game?

Chase Rice: Go on there and don’t want it too much. Just go on there and be yourself. Try to do the best you can in challenges, but just be yourself. For me, I wasn’t myself. I was crazy. If I’d of just chilled, hung back and just been me, I think I would have been a lot better off.